Healthy Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Recipes ― 19. 11. 2018

I am filled with absolute positive energy while writing this. Even though my childhood was never surrounded by cooking at home, or even baking (we didn’t own an oven until around 5-6 years ago), I strangely found my true passion in it. My personal understanding of healthy cuisine and its purpose has inspired me to learn about nutritious food throughout my life. Since my early childhood, I have tried to develop my creativity in variety of subjects. But strangely enough the one that defines me the most is to create healing foods that are nutritious for mind, healthy for body and that are emotionally and intellectually inspiring.

You would laugh if you could watch me in the kitchen. I never had any experience with the basics in cooking, so for some of you the easiest steps would seem self explanatory, but for me they are a whole different universe. For example: When I started making desserts, I would wonder: “why the heck do you have to put the lime zest and juice in the mixture separately?” So I threw the whole lime in my food processor. You can imagine how incredibly bitter was this cake. But lesson was learned!

But everyday I’m learning new “secrets” with every recipe and always exploring different ways of combining healthy food with love and hard work. Sometimes even hysterical tears. For this recipe I decided to ditch my blender for a bit, and use my mini oven. Of course all the ingredients are still nutritious, vegan and refined sugar-free. The Healthy Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache turned out beautifully moist and not too sweet. Perfect for dessert after a light lunch.

Banana Cake

7 inch Cake tin

¼ cup / 60ml milk of your choice (nut, seed, rice, goat, …)

6 Tbsp. / 90ml melted coconut oil or ghee (Ghee is not vegan)

6 Tbsp. / 90ml rice syrup

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups mashed ripe bananas (approximately 5 medium bananas)

1 cup / 140g spelt flour (or flour of your choice)

1 cup / 140g kamut flour (or flour of your choice)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. sea salt

1 cup / 100g walnuts, chopped (optional)

2 Tbsp. Honey (optional/not vegan)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C.
2. Lightly oil and dust a 7” round spring form cake pan with flour, shaking out excess.
3. Put the milk, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and bananas in a blender and blend until smooth.
4. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Add banana mixture and combine using as few strokes as possible. Fold in walnuts.
5. Pour batter into cake pan and smooth the top. Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (approx. 60 minutes)

Chocolate Ganache

260ml coconut cream/milk

220g dark (85% cocoa) chocolate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean powder

1 tablespoon rice malt syrup

1. To make the ganache heat the coconut cream, rice malt syrup and vanilla powder in
a saucepan until it simmers.
2. Then pour into a mixing bowl, holding about 3 tablespoons back in the pan for emergency use later, if needed.
3. Add chocolate, whisking it through until silky and melted. If the fats separate and your ganache develops a chocolate cottage cheese appearance, just add that additional coconut cream you saved, whisking swiftly to bring it all back together.

Cake Assembly

Let the cake cool completely. Slice the cake in half horizontally. Add the Chocolate Ganache and put the on top the other cake layer. Add the rest of the Ganache and decorate with walnuts (you can toast the walnuts for a bit on low heat and add maple syrup at the end, so they have a nice glaze). Refrigerate until it hardens.